Pieces of Stronghold

by Golden Angel

  Funny how quickly guys changed their mind when they realized a woman meant it.

  "Because you still want to get back together with Michael eventually."

  Leigh opened her mouth and then closed it. She couldn't quite meet Angel's eye. "I never said that."

  "But it's in the back of your head. You know what a terrible idea that is, don't you?"

  "I wouldn't just let him push me around anymore. I don't need him." Not like she used to. She'd always thought that she could never live without him. Now she'd learned differently, but she still wanted him. Missed him. Every day got just a little bit easier, but then she'd see a six pack of Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat in the beer store or hear Shania Twain's You're Still the One on the radio and her throat would close up and her chest would ache and she'd wish she could just reach out and hold his hand. The way she'd always done. "It would be different."

  "I would hope so," Angel muttered. She gave Leigh a sidelong look. "What about Jake? Does he know that you're going out with Jared tonight?"

  "Yes."

  Their entire group of friends seemed intent on trying to push Jake and Leigh together, which they found amusing. She liked Jake, but more in the way that she liked Adam. He was another big brother type, and while they'd clicked immediately, it hadn't been in a romantic way. Not that anyone else seemed to see it that way. They all went googly eyed every time Jake put his arm around Leigh's shoulders, even though Jake always had his arm around someone's shoulders. He'd joked to her that he was starved for female contact after being overseas.

  No one seemed to disapprove of her and Jared hanging out so much, exactly, but the general consensus was that it couldn't go anywhere. Because Jared was a Dom and Leigh was vanilla. Although, lately she was wondering about that. Not everything that she saw at the club appealed to her - in fact a lot of it didn't - but some of it did. More and more of it, actually, because the more she was exposed to the various forms of kink, the more she heard or saw that drew her in.

  Leigh had always liked sex, and sex with Michael had always been good, but now she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to go beyond a little bit of bondage. Beyond the occasional slap on the ass during doggy-style. But wondering and actually doing were two very different things. On the other hand, if Jared was up for showing her a few things, and they could maintain the connection that they had, Leigh would be totally up for it. She was pretty sure that she and Jared could both separate their emotions, considering that they were both still hung up on other people.

  "You like Jared more than Jake, don't you?" Angel asked with a sigh.

  Leigh shrugged and then grimaced as her pedicurist took her foot out of the water and started going at it with the hard sponge. This was the only part of a pedicure that she didn't like that much, because she was so ticklish and it was so hard to stay still. Next to her, Angel was giggling and gripping the arms of her chair to keep from moving her foot; Leigh was practically writhing as she tried not to kick the poor woman in the face.

  "Sorry... sorry..." She practically squealed as the woman hit a sensitive spot. The woman just gave her a sympathetic smile, not that she let up on Leigh's feet at all. At least having their feet scrubbed distracted Angel from the conversation.

  Once the tickle torture was over, Leigh was able to relax as the pedicurist smoothed lotion over her right foot and calf and started to massage it. This was the best part of a pedicure. Although her limp relaxation was interrupted by a text message. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw that it was Jared.

  Hey I'm really sorry but I got called in to the first shift at work tonight so I'm going to have to cancel on dinner.

  The level of disappointment that swept through her surprised Leigh. She'd been looking forward to seeing Jared tonight, but she hadn't realized quite how much until now.

  "What's wrong?" Angel asked, attuned to Leigh's mood as always.

  "He got called in to work," Leigh said, knowing that she wasn't totally successful at hiding her disappointment. On the other hand, why should she just accept the cancellation? Throughout her entire relationship with Michael, she'd always just willingly taken whatever he could give her without asking for more. If she was going to change her habits for the future, why not start practicing now?

  Her fingers flew across the phone.

  What time does the shift end? There's a meteor shower tonight that I want to go watch.

  Angel didn't even feign disinterest; she leaned over the arm of her chair, trying to see what Leigh had written back. Shaking her head, Leigh tilted the phone so that Angel could read for herself.

  As she did, it vibrated with Jared's reply. Leigh quickly snatched the phone back.

  Awesome. I'll get out my telescope.

  Happiness buzzed through her chest, a big grin spreading across her face. Okay, so a telescope wasn't actually useful during a meteor shower, but who cared? Obviously Jared was interested in going, which meant her night wasn't a total bust. It made her feel good that her little experiment had such a positive response. They sent a few more quick texts, ending with him promising to text her as soon as he left work and was on the way to Adam and Angel's to pick her up. It wasn't until she'd finished that Leigh realized both of their pedicures were done and that Angel and the two other women were all watching her with looks of amusement on their faces.

  "Not a date, huh?" Angel asked, raising her eyebrow, a stupid little smirk on her face.

  "Shut up."

  ******

  Most days Jared loved his job, but today the shift had dragged on forever. Fortunately, Trey arrived right on time to pick up the later shift, so Jared could leave at ten. Too late for dinner, but not too late for a meteor shower. He grinned. It was fucking cold out, but totally worth it. He liked that Leigh wasn't afraid to brave the December weather to see the meteor shower. It had been a long time since he'd really been able to indulge in looking at the stars.

  Of course, almost as soon as he'd texted her about bringing his telescope, he'd wished that he could unsend it. He'd gotten overly excited about stargazing and, like a dumbass, hadn't thought twice about making a telescope reference, only to realize that it made no sense. Whatever, if she liked watching meteor showers, maybe she would be interested in coming out to look at the stars and planets through the telescope some other time.

  There were plenty of other things that he'd packed up for the evening, even though it had taken him a few minutes of extra time. Fortunately, his apartment wasn't too far out of the way between Stronghold and Adam's house. He felt strangely nervous, filled with a kind of buoyant energy that wouldn't let him relax as he drove.

  Some of that nervous energy seeped away when he pulled up to the house, and Leigh immediately stepped out of the front door. That's when he realized that part of him had been anxious about facing Angel and Adam. Not that he should have been - it wasn't really any of their business if he and Leigh were going to hang out - but sometimes emotions couldn't be ruled by logic.

  "Hi," Leigh said as she jumped into the car. He'd thought about getting out to open the door for her, but she'd moved so quickly that he hadn't had the chance. "Holy crap it's cold out."

  "Still want to go look at the stars?" he teased, a small voice in the back of his head yelling at him not to give her the option.

  Leigh just smiled brilliantly at him, quieting the voice. "Of course! I'm all bundled up... long underwear and everything."

  "Very sexy," he said, teasing again, although he also approved. She looked like she'd put a lot of thought into keeping warm tonight. The long, grey, thick, winter coat she was wearing went down nearly to her ankles. It didn't have a hood, but it had a broad collar that covered her neck completely, although she also had a thick knitted scarf wrapped around her throat. Jared was pretty sure that he recognized Angel's work; she'd made a bunch of scarves for everyone for Christmas gifts. The bright blue, velvet cap she was wearing had a small brim above her forehead and puffed out over the rest of her head, covering h
er ears and all the way down to the nape of her neck. She looked adorable, her mismatched eyes gleaming with excitement in the car's interior lights, just before she closed the door and they clicked off. One was hazel, the other green-hazel, and he found the difference strangely fascinating.

  "Ask Angel," Leigh said, tugging off her gloves, which were obviously too warm to keep on with the heat blaring, as Jared backed out of the driveway. "I will choose comfort over sex appeal any day. I swear, since I've moved in she's started dressing me like a Barbie doll. And I think she threw away my favorite pair of sneakers."

  "The ones where the soles were coming apart from the shoe?" Jared asked, unimpressed by her complaint.

  Leigh narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, as if daring him to say something derogatory about her favorite shoes. "Yes."

  "Good."

  Laughing, she smacked the back of her hand against his bicep. Not that he really felt it, through his own thick coat. Not to mention that Leigh didn't exactly hit hard. She was all slender limbs, sleekly muscled but without any real build in comparison to his larger, harder frame. Hell, he was twice the size of her width, and despite her height, he was a full head taller.

  Fortunately, Jared liked being quite a bit larger than a woman. It was fortunate because otherwise he wouldn't have had much luck finding anyone to date; he was substantially larger than most women. Still, he liked that she wasn't petite either; very short woman always made him feel like he was about to trip over them. Leigh was, like his ex, very much his physical type.

  Unlike his ex, she was more fun to talk to. Rather than listening to a diatribe about her day, her aspirations, and any current hindrances to her goals, he and Leigh chatted back and forth. She asked question after question, coaxing more information out of him in one conversation than most people did in a month's worth. As always, it was easy to talk to her, even though he did his best to turn the questions around on her as well.

  When they reached the site that he'd picked out, a large field that was surrounded by trees and very little light pollution, Leigh practically bounced out of the car in her excitement. Grinning, Jared opened up the trunk and picked up the blankets and the picnic basket that he'd put back there. He'd already told her not to bother bringing any blankets since he had more than enough.

  "What's that?" she asked, looking curiously at the picnic basket.

  "You'll see," he said, shutting the trunk.

  She grinned at him, snuggling up to his unburdened side and wrapping her arm around his waist. Immediately his side was warmer, and he curved his arm around her shoulder.

  "Mmmm warm," she said, pressing her face against his chest as they walked into the field. Jared chuckled, basically guiding her across the grass, enjoying the fact that she let him. He was well known at Stronghold for being a cuddly Dom, one whose favorite part of a scene was after-care, but even so, his need to be a provider was rarely ever fully satisfied. It wasn't just about caring for a woman, or protecting her, but also about her appreciation of it. He'd done plenty of caring for Marissa, but she'd always taken it for granted. Leigh always seemed, not just grateful, but almost surprised by it. Which only made him want to take care of her even more. Even the subs at Stronghold didn't have that kind of reaction; they might appreciate aftercare in his hands, but they also expected it.

  Picking a spot right in the center of the field, he quickly spread out the largest blanket, already alert to the fact that Leigh was shivering slightly as she stood and waited.

  "Sit down," he said, pointing to the center of the blanket and unfolding another even thicker and warmer one. Leigh plunked her cute little butt down right where he'd pointed without even the hint of a protest. It always amused him when she claimed not to be a submissive yet never seemed to notice how quickly she followed orders when they were issued. He didn't point it out though; he just settled the blanket around her shoulders and lap.

  Lifting up one arm, as if it was a wing with the blanket trailing down like feathers, Leigh tilted her head at him. "Aren't you coming under?"

  "In a minute."

  Opening the picnic basket, he took out a small tin and handed it to her. Even with her gloves on, it only took her a moment to open it.

  "Cookies!" Her delight was infectious, the surprise and happiness laced through her tone feeding into that deep-seated need in his psyche. She beamed up at him. "Where did you get these?"

  "Made them yesterday," he admitted, feeling a bit sheepish. "Knew I wouldn't have time today."

  The expression on her face was worth the slight embarrassment over admitting that he'd made them specifically for her. He was so used to having offerings either belittled or dismissed as unimportant, he wasn't used to anyone making a big deal about it. To hide the intensity of his own reaction, he busied himself with getting the bottle of wine out of the picnic basket and opening it while Leigh tasted one of the cookies.

  She moaned.

  "These are delicious, Jared. I can't believe you made these. They're gorgeous, like something you'd see in a shop."

  He shrugged, even as his heart felt like it was swelling so large that it might burst out of his chest. "Justin gave me the recipe; they're not as hard to make as you'd think."

  The rectangular shaped cookies were in a checkerboard pattern of vanilla and chocolate, and the bottoms had been dipped in chocolate. It wasn't the first time that Jared had made them, but it was the first time anyone had cared. Then again, he'd never presented them to anyone, the way he had to Leigh. Her genuine recognition of the effort and thought he'd put into them made him want to shower her with a million little surprises. Seriously, had her ex never done anything for her?

  When he picked up the towel-wrapped wine glasses, under her curious gaze, he was even more surprised by her jaw-dropping reaction to seeing the stemware.

  "Did you seriously bring wine glasses?" she asked, voice quivering with suppressed amusement, but also that same awe that she'd shown over the cookies.

  "What, you thought I was going to let you drink from the bottle like a heathen?" he asked, enjoying her answering giggle.

  He poured the wine with a flourish and handed it to her, before pouring his own glass and finally accepting her offer of half the blanket. Despite the layers they were both wearing, their body heat mingled fairly quickly, warming him even more than the wine did as the rich cabernet slid down his throat. Leigh leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, and he shifted so that he could wrap his arm around her, tucking her against him in a way that made him feel like he was shielding her against all the elements.

  "Thank you for all of this," she murmured, her head moving slightly against his shoulder. "This is way classier than anything I would have planned for stargazing."

  "Wine glasses have a way of doing that," he teased.

  Looking up at the stars with her, he felt more lighthearted than he had in years. More open. More himself. When was the last time he'd really had a conversation with someone that wasn't about either them or Marissa? It felt like his life had revolved around his ex's problems and drama for so long, he could barely remember who he was without them. Until now. It was hard to look up at the nighttime sky, filled with stars and galaxies, and truly feel that the trivialities Marissa had cluttered his life with really mattered at all.

  "I can never stargaze without thinking about how small we are," Leigh murmured, echoing his thoughts, her head tilted back as she scanned the stars. "Like, look at all those billions of other stars, where there are other worlds... all those galaxies that we can't even see. We're just a teeny tiny speck... kind of makes me feel pretty insignificant, you know?"

  "Ever wonder if there's really alien life out there?" he asked, curling his fingers around her shoulder in a comforting kind of gesture. Thinking about how little they were in the grand scheme of things was never a comfortable thought and, despite the cold, he was pretty sure that Leigh's shivers meant she felt the same. After all, as cuddled up as they were, with the blanket wrapped secu
rely around them and wine warming their insides, the cold was barely touching him. And he was wrapped around Leigh, which meant it should be effecting her even less.

  "I mean, there's got to be, don't you think? At least something, somewhere. Maybe more advanced than us, maybe less... but I can't believe that we're the only planet in the entire universe to have any life."

  "That's pretty much how I always felt." Jared paused and then gave her a sardonic look. "Do you believe in alien abductions?"

  "Uh, not so much- oh look!" Leigh jumped excitedly, her arm swinging up and nearly knocking against his wine glass. He followed the point of her finger in time to see the very last flash of a shooting star. "It's starting!"

  They both paused, scanning the sky, as if the one star was the signal for a multitude. Of course, meteor showers didn't work quite like that, especially the Geminids, which weren't quite as showy in their area as, say, the Perseids in August. But that didn't stop them from hopeful looking.

  Finally, Leigh sighed. "I think that might have been it for now." She tilted her head to look up at him, her voice turning hopeful and kind of pleading. "Cookie?"

  Jared couldn't help but chuckle. He reached out from the warm cocoon of the blanket to knock the top off of the tin and pick a cookie up for her. Before she could shift to reach for it, he brought it to her bowed pink lips. Warmth that wasn't at all physical shot through him as Leigh delicately took a small bite, happy to let him feed her.

  The warmth spread down his body, pooling in his groin and making his dick start to harden. He'd always found feeding a woman to be an erotic experience, one that went far beyond providing for her. Olivia had once told him that it was because he used food as a phallic substitute, but he didn't think that was all of it either. There was something primal about feeding a woman from his own hand, a kind of dominance that was more mental than anything else. After all, Leigh was perfectly capable of feeding herself, but here she was, allowing him to do so, without protest.